Lasers advance slowly into the battlefield

More than 30 years after a laser first shot down a moving target in the skies above New Mexico, US troops have yet to fire a laser weapon on the battlefield.

Despite ploughing billions of dollars into developing laser weapons and carrying out numerous high-profile tests, the Pentagon has been unable to convert the technology into a suitable system. The problem is that existing systems are huge, lumbering beasts that need their own trailer just to carry the fuel. This would be no good for protecting troops in a fast-moving battle, for example, or on fighter aircraft.

So the Department of Defense is now pinning its hopes on solid-state lasers, which can be powered by electricity rather than chemical fuel. These lasers have also been years in development, but last month prototype system designs from two competing US contractors, Northrop Grumman of Los Angeles and Textron Systems of Wilmington, Massachusetts, ...

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